When the sign had to be recently replaced, the word "the" was left
off because it cost more

The Pizza Man in Lenexa, Kansas is a surprisingly
little known restaurant. It is rather small and doesn't have a terribly
large menu, but the Pizza Man does a very good job with several products.
Various people think the Pizza Man serves the best pizza, or the best Chicago
style hot dog, or the best Italian sandwich in Kansas City.

The food is good enough that I visited the restaurant
3 times in the span of 5 days, prior to writing this review for the first
time.

I was first taken to The Pizza man by a friend and local
restaurateur who wanted to treat me to the best Chicago style dog in town.
I tried both a Chicago style dog and a chilly dog (Coney Island). Both
were made using real Vienna beef hot dogs. The Chicago style dog was my
favorite by a small margin, but both were very good.

My first pizza was a deluxe personal 9" pizza for $6.75
The price now (about 8 years later) is still only $7.50. It had extremely
thin crust and has plenty of toppings: pepperoni, sausage, onion, mushroom
and green pepper. I thought it odd that a restaurant that is so Chicago
oriented doesn't have Chicago style pizza, but I've been told that the
thin crust pizza is also Chicago authentic. It is just that the thick crust
is better known.

The Pizza Man originally opened in 1988, in part of the
space next door which now has Grinders Stonewall. The shop moved to this
location about 10 years later. The Pizza Man's founder, Bob Kranz, was
nicknamed "Pizza Man." A regular customer (and another former Chicagoan),
Mike Klaersch, purchased the restaurant from Kranz in 2005.

The Italian beef sandwich (thin slices of Italian roast
beef with melted cheese on a good hoagie bun) comes with jus and giardiniera
(Chicago condiment with pickled sport peppers, jalapeno, celery and possibly
other vegetables) on the side. I like the Italian sandwich a lot.

The salads look good, but I don't care as much for them
as most pizza shop salads and I wish the Pizza Man offered something besides
potato chips and salads for side dishes.